Two LGBTQ plays, one casting controversy at Triangle Productions

Don Horn's play "Trans-Formation," which tells the story of the first American to become widely known for having sex reassignment surgery, is part of an LGBTQ double bill at Triangle Productions. (David Kinder)

By Lee Wiliams | For The Oregonian/OregonLive

In 1950, former U.S. Army clerk George Jorgensen left for Denmark and returned home 29 months later as Christine Jorgensen. Or, as the New York Daily News put it on the front page: "Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty."

"TRANS-formation," written and directed by Don Horn, the founder and executive director of Triangle Productions, follows Jorgensen's physical and emotional journey toward gender self-actualization – and the fact-filled 70-minute one-act couldn't be more timely.

Matthew Sunderland as George Jorgensen in "Trans-formation," playing at Triangle Productions. (David Kinder)

Evoking President Donald Trump's hang-ups with transgender people serving in the military, "TRANS-formation" opens with Jorgensen (actor Matthew Sunderland) in a service uniform — and spoiler alert — concludes with the future performer/author/lecturer in a fabulous fur coat and hat set.

Presented as a double bill with the 30-minute, single-scene, "The Madness of Lady Bright," the evening cracks a window into mid-20th century LGBTQ activism and attitudes.

Regrettably, Horn's script follows Jorgensen's story only to age 26. Her trans advocacy, legal issues at home (trying to marry as a woman) and professional triumphs and troubles (a Vegas hotel nearly canceled her show for misrepresenting her gender) aren't portrayed. What we have is a melodramatic medical procedural — often riveting, often bogged down in bibliographic annotation — like a live Lifetime movie, relentlessly researched.

That's not a terrible thing. It just feels like a work in progress. With some surgical editing, "TRANS-formation" could develop into an artful, tender and still informative piece. Something closer to "The Danish Girl," the 2015 big-screen biography of Danish painter Lili Elbe, the recipient of the first, risky sex reassignment procedures — but with a much brighter third act.

Sunderland soars above the script's shortcomings. Barring a hologram of Jorgensen fused from archival footage, he's the next best thing. He gives fully fleshed renditions of both George and Christine and lands the clipped, vaguely New England, slightly Northern European inflection that articulated her new identity.

The choice to cast Sunderland as Jorgensen hasn't sat well with some in Portland's LGBTQ community pressing for the casting of trans actors for trans roles. Basic Rights Oregon declined partnering with Triangle for the production because "participating in 'TRANS-formation' would not be consistent with ideas and values we’ve shared publicly," a group spokesperson told Horn by email.

Horn says that during open auditions, he searched Portland and looked up and down the West Coast, but found a scarcity of trans actors for the part. And it's tough to believe that Triangle, a leading LGBTQ theater company in Portland with 30 years under its belt, wouldn't want a trans lead for such a conspicuous project.

On the other hand, the "no-available-talent" reasoning has been a frequent fallback for not casting racial or sexual minorities in theater and films. Come June, Triangle revives its massively successful 2002 version of the transgender rock musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." Let's keep an eye out for which actor gets the big-curled, wide-wigged title role.

Line of the night

"I believe we never know the inner turmoil of others," Jorgensen says prior to her reassignment surgeries.

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Gary Norman in Lanford Wilson's short play "The Madness of Lady Bright," part of an LGBTQ double bill at Triangle Productions. (David Kinder)

Strengths

In addition to Sunderland, Gary Norman turns in an impactful performance in "Lady Bright," Lanford Wilson's 1964 monologue about a recluse haunted by past hook-ups. What could be an antique piece appears as a polished gem.

For "TRANS-formation," Horn splices in old newsreel film and new video clips for context. The clips also keep the show flowing and contemporary.